Smash up those voting machines

Secretary of State Kurt Browning announced Thursday that the state has inked a deal to have a Tampa recycling company to pick up and haul away thousands of touchscreen voting machines. First up will be machines made by Sequoia and in use in such counties as Palm Beach and Indian River. These machines will be "de-manufactured" or smashed up and sold for parts.

The company, Creative Recycling, will also eventually pick up ES&S machines used in other counties such as Miami-Dade and Broward. The company will attempt first to remarket the machines to other jurisdictions in the U.S. and the world.

Any proceeds that result from the remarket and "de-manufacture" of the voting machines will go first to the counties that still owe money for the ATM-styled machines that were installed in the wake of the 2000 presidential election.

Gov. Charlie Crist made the push last year to get rid of most touchscreen machines and replace them with optical scan machines that rely on a paper ballot.